Introduction

In the poem “Miniver Cheevy” by Edwin Arlington Robinson, Miniver Cheevy desires life in a past time period and lives a miserable life, wishing that he was never born, because he is living in the present, where he feels like he does not belong. Robinson portrays him as this character to send its readers a message and to show them that sometimes people have no control over certain things in life, but the thing that people do have control of is their happiness. People create their own happiness by turning a tragic situation into a positive situation. Robinson shows people, through the character Miniver Cheevy, that not everything in life is always going to go accordingly, and some things cannot be controlled. When there is a situation that people are not happy with, they can be optimistic and control how the situation plays out. Miniver Cheevy could live a happy life, but he lives life in the past, instead of the present, and spends his time feeling sorry for himself. Robinson depicts Miniver Cheevy as a child reminiscing about a life in a different time period, to send a message about acceptance and making the best out of situations that people have no control over.